Fence stapling tool



Dec. 23, 1952 H. W. HILL 2,622,634

FENCE STAPLING TOOL Filed Feb. 18, 1949 Patented Dec. 23, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,622,634 FENCE STAPLING 'roerJ Howard Hill, Des Moines, Iowa Appliatiph February 1s, 194e, serial Nt. '17,159

A I y (ci. 14o- 54) 2 Claims.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a staple attaching tool for securingfwire strands, fence or liketo metal posts.

More specifically, .the object ofk .this invention is to provide a hand-operated tool that will draw a strand of wire onto a metalpost, place a 'U-shaped staple around the post andr then bend the ends of thefstaple around the Wire strand, thereby securing the 'strand ,to the post.

A further. object ofrny invention is toppro-l vide a fence stapling .tool ithatfis eas'yV to operate.

A still further object ofY my inventionV is to provide a tool for stapling, fence to metal 'posts that isv rapid in operation.

A still further object of this invention is to providev a fence stapler that'i'sf economical in manufacture and durable in use.

These and other objects "will .be apparent to those skilled inthe art.

My invention consists in .the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter'more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and villustrated in the accompanying drawinga'in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view' of my tool in use.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view'of' my device. takenV on 'line 24-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a staple bent around a post and strand of Wire by my tool.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective YiGW of a U-shaped staple. 1

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional viewiof vmy device taken on line 5-'5 of Fig;V 1 and more fully illustrates its construction.`

In recent years metal fence posts have 'been rapidly replacing the use of wooden posts. This is particularly true whenr temporary fencing is required. The chief problerfi, liowevenhas been the successful securing'of the'fene to the' metal post which is most commonly'Tfshaped'inwcrosssection with a longitudinal row of projections on its flat side. Usually, wirestaplesv are employed; These staples are placed around the post :and the ends of thestaple are bent around the wire fence by the use" of a pair Ofpliers or like. Obviously, such a 4procdure ofsecuring a fence to a post is not A'onlyslow and tiresome but requires a certain'jamount of skill. I have overcome such objections as will hereinafter be appreciated.

Referring to the drawings I have used the numeral I'Il to designate an ordinary metal fence post having a row Il of lugs on its iiat side for receiving between any two lugs the fence strand I2. The numeral I3 designates a common U- shaped wire or metal rod staple. tool is designed to clinch such a staple around the post I0 and wire strand I2, as shown in Fig. 3. However, itis obvious that my tool can operate with staples of different shape or design and lalso the metal post may be of different design from that'of the' one shown.l The numeral lI ,ll designates' the trough portion of my tool having its forward end open and an elongated rearwardly extending slot opening I5 in its forward central bottom; as shown in Fig. l; The two spaced apart sides of the 'trough extend forwardly a slight 'distance beyond the trough bottom. Formed in the bottom edge of eachof these sides and forward the trough bottom is a notch I6 fo'r forming the two downwardly and rearwardly extending "hooks Il at the forward end of the trough. The purpose of these two hook portions is to' temporarily catch the wire strand andv hold it tightly against the post during the stapling` operation. Formed on the rear upper end of the trough is a hollow handle portion I8. Slidably extending through this handle I8 is an4 elongatedhollow shaft I9 having a grip portion 20 on its rear end. On the forward 'end portion of the shaft I9 and within the upper portion ofthe trough are two'forwardlyextending ratchet toothed arms 2l and 22; as'shown in Fig. l. These two arms are spaced apart to slidably engage' the insides o'f the two trough Vwalls, respectively, and when the shaft is in a rear sliding position, terminate a substantial distance from the end of the trough. The teeth of these two arms are on their u'ndersides. The numerals 23 and 24 designate two ratchet gears vrotatably mounted on the forward inside of the 'two sides of the trough, respectively. A tension spring 2E is provided for each of the gears for yieldingly holding them in one direction of their rotation. These gears are so placed that they are engaged eventually by the'ratchet armswhen the shaftl @is movedfor'wardly'.A The'numeralZt designatesa wire bending finger extending outwardly and forwardly from each of the gears. The free end of each of these fingers is biforked for engagingth'e top and sides of the end lportions of the staple. The numeral 2l designates a horizontal plate secured to the insideoffeach of the sides of ythe trough. These two plates are spaced above the bottom of the trough andare at'each sideof the Anotch opening I5, respectively. The numeral 28 designates a rod having its'rear end slidably extending into the forward end of the shaft I9. It is limited in its sliding movement by a pin 29 extending through a longitudinal slit 39 in the wall of the shaft. A coil spring 3I yieldingly holds the rod forwardly in its sliding movement. This rod extends forwardly and then downward in the trough and has its forward end connected to a U-shaped plunger shoe 32. This shoe is slidable on the bottom of the trough and capable of passing under the plates 2l' for forcing a staple forwardly.

The practical operation of the tool is as follows:

With the shaft I9 in rear position a staple I3 is placed on the magazine space 33, which is the space on the trough bottom and between the rear ends of the plates 2l and the shoe 32. The next operation is to hook the prongs I7 over the -fence strand with the fence post in the notch opening I5, as shown in Fig. 1. The strand I2 may normally be some distance from the post and the depth of the notch I permits the tool to pass at each side of the post in order to catch the strand with the hook portions Il. By pulling the tool rearwardly the hooked fence strand will be drawn tightly to the post and between two of the bumps of the row II of the post. Next by holding the tool rearwardly by use of the handle I8, the shaft I9 is forced forwardly by use of the grip 20. The first action resulting therefrom is to move the shoe forwardly, thereby forcing the staple I3 under the two plates. Simultaneously, the ratchet arms move forwardly and eventually contact the ratchet wheels. By further forward movement of the shaft I9 the staple will be moved to tightly embrace the post with the ends of the staple extending above the fence strand, and with the ratchet gears in contact with the forwardly moving ratchet arms, the fingers on the ratchet gears will swing around forwardly thereby contacting the two end portions of the staple and moving these two end portions downwardly and rearwardly in hooked condition around the fence strand, as shown in Fig. 3. The continued forward movement of the ratchet arms to accomplish this last action (even though the shoe and staple has engaged the post) is made possible by the spring 3| yieldingly permitting the ratchet arms to move forwardly after the rod 28 and shoe 32 have stopped forward movement.

From the above, it will be obvious that once the wire strand is contacted by the prongs Il and pulled to the post, one forward movement of the grip 20 will place the staple tightly around the post and bend the staple ends around the wire strand, thereby successfully securing the strand to the post. To remove the tool, the grip is pulled rearwardly to return the actuating mechanism to cocked positions, and the hook ends I1 detached from the now fastened wire strand. The plates 21 not only guide the staple into place, but holds the same during the clinching operation. As soon as the rod I9 is moved to the rear, the tension springs 25 will return the ratchet gears to normal positions with their bending fingers 26 to the rear and ready for the next stapling operation. While I have described the staple magazine as that space on the trough bottom forward of the shoe 32 when the shoe is rearward, it is obvious that a magazine hopper for holding a plurality of staples may be secured in this area.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my fence stapling tool 4 without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modied forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In a fence stapling tool, a handle having a bore' extending longitudinally through it, a pair of spaced apart legs secured to said handle and extending therefrom parallel to each other1 a hollow rod slidably mounted in said handle; said rod extending between said legs, a solid rod having a portion of its length slidably engaged in the hollow of said hollow rod, a stop means on said solid rod, a spring loosely embracing said solid rod and trapped between said stop means and the end of said hollow rod, a staple advancing and holding shoe secured to said solid rod, a pair of cogs rotatably secured one to the inside of each of the free ends of said U-frame, a pair of Y-bending fingers fixed to each of said cogs and extending radially therefrom, a U-rack bar slidably mounted inside said U-frame and hav ings its closed end rigidly secured to said hollow rod; said U-rack bar capable of being slidably moved to engage and rotate said cogs, hooks on the free ends of said U-frame, and springs on said cogs for yieldingly rotating said cogs in the .opposite direction from thatin which said cogs are rotated by said U-rack bar.

2. In a fence stapling tool, a U-frame, a handle fixed to the closed end of said U-frame, a bore extending longitudinally through said handle and the closed end of said U-franie, a rod slidably mounted in said bore and extending within said U-frame, a U-rack bar slidably mounted within said U-frame; the closed end of said U-rack bar fixed to said rod, a staple advancing and holding means yieldingly secured to said rod, a pair of cogs one rotatably secured to each of the free ends of said U-frame and operated by said U- rack bar when the U-rack bar is slidably moved in the U-frame, a pair of bending fingers one secured to each of said cogs and extending radially therefrom, and hooks formed on the forward free ends of said U-frame.

HOWARD W. HILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 356,638 Haag Jan. 25, 1887 452,613 Morton May 19, 1891 689,721 Holland Dec. 24, 1901 744,166 Church Nov. 17, 1903 875,654 Christensen Dec. 31, 1907 894,301 Wharton July 28, 1908 900,099 Hurd Oct, 6, 1908 909,272 Wygant Jan, 12, 1909 985,023 Fry Feb. 2l, 1911 1,508,313 White Sept. 9, 1924 1,970,101 Maynard Aug. 14, 1934 2,183,978 Sorenson Dec. 19, 1939 2,195,889 Maynard Apr, 2, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,618 Great Britain May 15, 1933 

